Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-05-27
The Money in Circulation

The opinion prevails that abundant
money is condition OF business prosper
ity. When money is scarce, products, it
is held, remain unsold, debts 60 unpaid,
and the operations Of commerce are Oh
structed. Enterprise languishes 10y res-
son of difficulty encountered in raising
capital q! new undertakings, and trad,
of the community is paralyzed. The in
PRODUCTION OF additional money upon such
a scene ac's like magic If A is SO lucky
as to receive some OF il, he has the where
withai to pay his debt to B, aud the lat
ter is enab' ed in turn 10 settle with {. I
perhaps is in debt to \, d and +, and ID
and T. to b, SO that as the result of the in
fiux of few dollars every body sEjoys a
more satisfactory financial POSITION. and
there is an addition to the fund applca-
BILE to new enterprises or to the purchase
Of the comfors of liie.
As the ,otal circulation OF the United
States at the close of the las fiscal year
was S1,s15 57l.225, our people as 4 who c
are evidently pretty we'll supplied with
the medium Of exchange. OF this SUM,
however. il should be said, 1913, s57 ,6l9
was held in the treasury, :nd was not
strictly speaking "in circulation" The
remainder, embracing S262 69S, $50 in the
national banks. and S979,lii $50 in other
banks and in general circulation, va. a.
valuable Tor purposes Of commerce. Ot
this latter sum as much as S2e5, ESQ .stl
was in gold. shout one-'enth Of which wss
held by State banks. S34 597, ,945 in gold
certificate, S225 ,963. .36a in greeubacks
S2s2, ,535. 100 in national bank notes, S45,,
i112,457 in silver dollars, $s6 ,303,935 u
silver certificates S43.24a 955
-ary yTTvrr curT, suI yyu-fT.U5~N
al paper currency. The national Ss,1l
( held at the same time SIO4, $50 is' in gold
: S41. .4i6. f30 in gold certificates, so .656.
753 in greenbacks, s25 5,129, ,93S in national
bank notes. S9,6.0 j61 in silver and 81 :
SI3,290 in silver certificates. There has
| been since the close OF the last fiscal yeal
an appreciable increase in the circulation.
/ At the present time, deducting the money
held by the treasury and the banks, the
of the people can hardly fail much short
of 5000, 0,000,0 600, or sboi, $40 % to every
man, woman and child in the country
| This amount amply suttices for the busi
ness needs of the United States, supp'e-
mented as il is hy the use Of checks and
drafts So extensive is the use OF checks
and drafts at the present time, alongside
/ Of coin and other recognized forms oi
money, that it may he questioned whether
the quantity of cash in "a community is a:
much now a. formerly a measure of is
prosperity. On the l1th OF September
| 1881. the total receipts Of thu national
banks in New York, in other reseve cities
and OF the banks elsewhere in the United
States. aggregated 1895, ,233.1.9 but oi
this amount on'y 3s per cent was in
gold, 0 II per cent in silver and 4 36 pei
cent in paper currency. while % 90 pei
cent. was in checks, drafts, etc. In Neu
| York city less than one per cent. of the
payments made were in gold and currency
while 9S Sc per cent were in checks auo
drafts. 10 the banks elsew here, and not
IN the reserve cities, 3 81 per cent of a.
payments were made In gold, 06S in sill
yer, II - per cent in currency and III;
per cent in checks and drafts. From thi.
exhibit oil the amount of business trans
acted in one day and in a few cities by
means, other than gold or silver coin OF
currency, it is evident that The silver en-
thusiast and the greenbacker may very
well overestimate the Importance of theil
respective bobbies -Balt0. Sun.